A conventional PRIOR ART ink supply apparatus for supplying ink to an ink jet printer is disclosed within U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,226 which issued to Niedermeyer et al. on Aug. 30, 1994 and is disclosed within FIGS. 1 and 2 of the present patent application drawings which substantially correspond to FIGS. 10 and 11 of the aforenoted patent. More particularly, as disclosed within the aforenoted patent, it is briefly seen that the ink supply apparatus comprises a reservoir 10 which comprises a base portion 12 upon which is mounted a cover member 14. A container support portion 16 comprises an upstanding cylindrical neck member 18 having internal threads 20 for threadedly mating with a threaded cap 22 of an ink supply container 24. The threaded cap 22 includes a valve seat projection 26 upon which a spring-biased plunger valve 28 is mounted through means of a valve enclosure 29. In order to open the valve member 28 when the ink supply container 24 is mounted upon the base portion 12 of the reservoir 10, the base portion 12 is provided with an upstanding projection 30 which biases the valve member 28 upwardly against the biasing force of its spring member 32. The cover member 14 also has an upstanding portion 34 upon which a level detect mechanism 36, which includes a float member 38, is mounted for detecting the level 40 of the ink supply within the reservoir 10.
While the ink supply apparatus disclosed within the aforenoted patent obviously operates quite satisfactorily, it has been noted and realized that various different ink supply containers can be readily mounted upon the ink supply reservoir 10 in view of the fact that the ink supply containers are conventional. That is, or more particularly, any ink supply container can be simply secured upon the ink supply reservoir 10 by means of the threaded engagement defined between the externally threaded ink supply container cap 22 and the internally threaded neck portion 18 of the cover member 14 of the reservoir 10. In other words, any ink supply container 24 which is provided with an appropriate diametrically sized neck portion 42 and cap 22 and which has external threads which match the internal threads of the threaded neck portion 18 of the cover member 14 is able to be mounted and secured upon the ink supply reservoir 10. This structural arrangement or system presents significant problems, however, from a quality control viewpoint in that an ink supply container containing, for example, non-compatible ink formulations, or ink formulations which may be inferior in quality, may nevertheless be capable of being mounted upon the ink supply reservoir 10.
In order to address such a problem, or a similar problem with respect, for example, to the introduction of various ink supplies and supplies of solvent materials into an ink jet printer system, U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,333 which issued to Bates on Jul. 6, 1999 discloses a replenishment system for fluids used in connection with an ink jet printer wherein the fluid container or bottle and the mating reservoir are provided with means for ensuring that the correct container is connected to the corresponding reservoir. More particularly, as shown in FIG. 8 of the present patent application drawings, which corresponds to FIG. 4 of the Bates patent, a fluid container 10 is to be mounted upon a reservoir 26. The reservoir 26 comprises an upstanding neck portion 28 which is internally threaded, and the container 10 is provided with an externally threaded neck 16. External portions of the reservoir neck portion 28 are provided with slots 30, and a ring member 14 is adapted to be snap-fitted upon the threaded neck 16 of the container 10. The ring member 14 is provided with a pair of feet 20 which are adapted to be inserted within the slots 30 of the reservoir neck portion 28, and once inserted, the container 10 can be threadedly engaged upon the reservoir 26 due to the fact that the ring member 14 is freely rotatable upon the container 10.
While it may therefore be appreciated that the aforenoted system of Bates operates successfully in order to ensure that fluid containers are only able to be mounted upon corresponding fluid reservoirs, the system of Bates presents several operational disadvantages. Firstly, since the ring member 14 is adapted to be snap-fitted upon the container 10, and is a separate component with respect to the container 10, the ring member 14 can likewise become separated from the container 10. In addition, due to the fact that the ring member 14 is freely rotatable upon the neck portion 16 of the container 10, it is somewhat tedious to properly manipulate the container 10 and simultaneously align the feet 20 of the ring member 14 so as to be able to insert the feet 20 within the slots 30 of the reservoir neck portion 28.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved ink supply system which would effectively overcome the various drawbacks and disadvantages characteristic of the PRIOR ART as set forth hereinbefore. In particular, a need exists in the art for a new and improved ink supply system wherein both the ink supply reservoir and the ink supply container cap have unique mating or corresponding structure such that the ink supply reservoir will accept only such uniquely predeterminedly configured or structured ink supply containers. Still further, a need exists in the art for a new and improved ink supply system wherein there are no separate component parts upon the reservoir or fluid container such that no separate component parts can become separated and lost, and in addition, wherein there are no relatively movable component parts rendering the mating or mounting of the fliud container upon the fluid reservoir difficult and tedious.